The African Union may hardly have covered itself in glory in continental conflicts since that Sierra Leonean impasse, especially when – post-Mandela, anyway – applying only oven gloves to Robert Mugabe’s mid-meltdownZimbabwe.

Yet some similar alliance of North African/Arab states could ideally take a more effective, even aggressive, approach to what has become in Syria less a meagre local miff and more a lethal long-term catastrophe.

Last week’s chemical atrocity – to some even more flagrant for flying in the face of recently-arrived UN inspectors, yet needing no exacerbating arguments – appears at last to seem a tipping-point.

Some military experts here have offered interesting – if dispiriting – insights suggesting mere no-fly-zones and opportunistic airstrikes will do little to wipe out Assad’s arsenal, while only thousands of special forces troops on the ground could lastingly lock down widespread supplies. Ideal, and yet so very unlikely.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron’s backbench hawks include Robert Halfon MP who, while more cohesive elsewhere, declared to the BBC: ‘I very much hope politicians of all parties will vote to stop mass genocide and the use of chemical weapons.’

Ah, if only it were so simple – especially while some with sincere qualms about the efficacy and/or ethics of military strikes end up dismissed amid the ranks of mere ‘isolationists’.

Some desperate hope remains that, while aid agencies swarm surrounding regions, some sort of influence can be brought to bear before the blunt instrument of – dubiously-agreed – military might strikes sites or inconveniently-nearby civilians.

Russia and – to a lesser extent – China have appeared to enjoy mounting the moral high-ground, above the antagonistic West in recent months, risking hypocrisy as well as baffling animalistic metaphors.

Yet tempting them into applying influence elsewhere, let alone sanctions, still seems a little more inviting than bypassing towards yet more killings. This time in our own name, now and forevermore.

Metro Blogs is a place for opinions. These opinions belong to the author and are not necessarily shared by Metro.